A workshop focusing on the revitalization of the generic Greek modern apartment buildings âpolykatoikiesâ was organized by the Athens Municipality and curated by Hybrid Space Lab within the framework of the Co-Creating Athens project.
The workshop was opened by Athens Mayor Yiorgos Kaminis and the Dutch Ambassador Jan Versteeg.
Lectures & Workshop Rebooting Athens @ Co-Creating the City, City of Athens, 14Â December 2014
Incubators
The workshop’s main focus is the revitalization of the generic Greek modern apartment buildings âpolykatoikiesâ. This theme was addressed from a very broad range of perspectives relevant to sustainable urban development.
The workshopâs theme is the redefinition of Athensâ âpolykatoikiaâ in practice. âPolykatoikiaâ (ÏÎżÎ»Ï ÎșαÏÎżÎčÎșία) is the Greek term for âblock of flatsâ and derives from âpolyâ which means âmultiâ and âkatoikiaâ which means âresidenceâ. The typology of âpolykatoikiaâ was used to meet the needs of post-war development, when Athens encountered its peak growth period of its modern history.
In retrospect, this development has received criticism and has been blamed for turning Athens into an amorphous mass of built space, often of poor construction quality. In addition, the economic crisis has led to further dereliction of the âpolykatoikiesâ and has left the city with an abundance of vacant space in the form of empty apartments and shops.
However, the potential of âpolykatoikiaâ is undeniable: it offers a framework for social inclusion, urban multi-functionality (shops, offices, and housing combined in one building) and a human scale in the city. Small-scale ownership is not always easy to manage but it is a strong factor of social integration. The skeleton-construction of the buildings is a flexible structure enabling adaptation.
âRebooting Polykatoikiesâ also touched on the more general issue of ârebootingâ modernism, as the “polykatoikies” derive directly from Le Corbusierâs “Domino House”, an icon of modernist architecture.
Focus
– how to integrate green / urban agriculture
– how to address âgreen buildingâ issues
– how to create water circuitry
– how to integrate sustainable mobility (bicycles, e-bikes)
– how to address the street
– how to connect on roof top level
– how to integrate communal spaces
– how to reactivate vacant spaces
– how to turn vacancies into âactive voidsâ
– how to deal with small-scale ownership (long term strategies)
– how to connect the âpolykatoikiaâsâ community to ânew entrepreneurshipâ
– how to use the âpolykatoikiaâsâ integrative potential for different social/ethnic groups
– how to address tomorrowâs housing needsâŠ
– âŠand how to reflect this in the âpolykatoikiaâsâ architectural expression
Converting
Empty
Shops
into
Creative
Laboratories
The workshop was hosted in a vacant shopping passage in the city center, where the Traces of Commerce initiative is running a participative revitalization project.
Contributors
After a presentation of the Traces of Commerce project by its initiators Harris Biskos, Clelia Thermou, and Martha Yiannakopoulou, and a short thematic tour of the Athens shopping passages by architect Elena Zabeli, the workshop was opened by Athens Mayor Yiorgos Kaminis and by the Dutch Ambassador, Jan Versteeg. The workshop was introduced by Amalia Zepou, Athens Vice Mayor for Civil Society and Municipality Decentralisation; Egbert Fransen, Director of Pakhuis de Zwijger; and Elizabeth Sikiaridi of Hybrid Space Lab, with a series of short lectures featuring Yiorgos Sachinis of the UrbanDig Project, Andrew Clemens of Oikosteges, urban green expert Panagiotis Gkounidis, economic geographer Nicholas Karachalis, and  architect Nikos Magouliotis of BigOlive.
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